Guest Blogger - Ali from Blessed Treehouse

Ali Hooper is a riot! I have been lucky enough to get to know her through this wonderful avenue we are working on right now..the internet. We went to Blissdom together even though we hadn't met in real life prior. Ali's writing will keep you laughing along with filling you with great info. She is the Editor of Homeschool Bliss at Blissfully Domestic too! Ali is a great green advocate and gives some good tips concerning organizing. (seriously, she won't harm you if you don't save all your butter tubs...I will give you her address so you can mail them all to her though, because we don't believe in hoarding here on my site!! ROTFL! But seriously, donation would be wonderful if you have too many extra plastic tubs. ) I can say this cuz I luvs The Ali!
We visited the Rainforest Cafe on our trip to TN. I'm on the left, Ali on the right. We had a great time, learned alot and even got stuck on an elevator for 45 minutes with 11 other woman. We called it Elevator 13. Ali was the pregnant one on the elevator (don't you always have to have a pregnant woman in the mist of a crisis?

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So you already know Organizer Sandy, the genius organizing guru who is slightly Sleeping-With-The-Enemy (she knows exactly if something has been moved out of its place) (actually, I don't think she's that way at all. We shared a hotel room at Blissdom, and though I can confirm that she is super organized in real life, my psycho sensors weren't alarmed).

But you might not know me. I'm Ali of Blessed Treehouse. I blog and vlog and spill the beans on the not-so-sunny-side of motherhood. Oh, and I try (and often fail miserably) to live green-ish. It's more of a sour shade of green that I live, but heck, every bit counts, right?

So sweet Sandy asked me (me? me! of all people) to share with her readers a few tips about Green Organization. Though I'm far from an expert, I do have a big, puffy green heart, and I often pretend that I'm organized, so that's close enough, right?

Let me begin:

* Before you whip out the plastic (pun intended) to buy some new-fangled organizer, look around your home and turn on your creativity cap. If you don't have a creativity cap (let's face it, some people are so far from being creative it's painful), find a creative friend and borrow theirs. Either way, look around your home and find 'organizational' uses for things that you might not think could be used to stay organized. For instance, I use flower pots for storing office supplies. It's a fun and attractive way to keep my desk clutter free. And who am I kidding - I kill plants, so only God knows what I am doing with flower pots in the first place.
* Don't throw away containers of any kind! I'm serious. Next time you think of tossing that yogurt carton or butt wipe tub in the trash, think about how you can reuse it. I'm not kidding. I will sniff out your garbage, hunt you down, and hurt you if you dare throw away another plastic container. And if you are concerned that someone will judge you for reusing a butt wipe tub to hold cotton balls, get over it (I suggest investing in large sticky labels to smack on containers so that no one is alarmed when they are looking for butt wipes and they actually discover your Valium - seriously, a butt wipe tub is the perfect size for storing medications).
* Become an eBay, craigslist, and freestyle whore. Excuse my language, but seriously, sell your soul to these websites. DON'T buy new if you can buy used! Ebay now even has a local site allowing you to search for things in your area. Next time you are in the market for a book shelf or storage unit, PLEASE check these sites first. Again, I can smell 'new'. I will hunt you down and hurt you if you buy new when you could have easily found something gently used.
* Become "that neighbor." Seriously, be the one who the neighbors talk about, saying things like, "oh, there she goes again, digging through our garbage searching for reusable plastic containers." Save your neighbors the gossip by letting them know that you will gladly take any of their plastic containers off of their hands. Afraid they will think you are weird? Who cares! They are probably the same neighbors having scandalous affairs and scheduling their next liposuction.
* Finally, organizing IS green. The more organized you are, the less likely you are to buy yet another fabulous lip gloss (okay, so this is what I tell my husband when he catches me spending $20 on another shade of pink gloss, "but honey, I've searched the whole house and car, and I cannot find that gloss!" Seriously, ladies, can you blame me?)

Being organized and living green go together beautifully. And with the wealth of resources, awareness, and digital information available to us, there is no excuse not to live a bit more green.

Don't make me hurt you.


ALI The Blessed Treehouse